Abstract

Following on from an earlier paper that emphasized the importance of the concept of labour for understanding the relationship between capital and nature, in this paper I attempt to apply this understanding to the issue of climate change. I criticize approaches that regard climate change as a purely technical issue or economic issue or ecological issue, and distinguish four more broadly political positions, namely: green-growth capitalism, steady-state capitalism, eco-socialism, and open steady-statism. I evaluate each of these positions and show how the labour theory set out in the first paper can be used to arrive at a clearer position.